Canaletto’s sublime view of Venice, which once hung in the offices of Robert Walpole, the U.K.’s first prime minister, set a new auction record for the Italian painter when it sold for £31.9 million ($43.9 million) at Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London on Tuesday. The final bid for the work, titled Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day, surpassed its presale estimate of £20 million ($26.4 million).
Although the painting’s connection to the British statesmen is a curious fillip, it’s far from the dominant factor that drove the price. For starters, at 34 by 54 inches, it’s by far the largest Canaletto composition to have appeared at market over the past two decades and depicts one of the most famous views of the city. More importantly, Christie’s noted that the work is in “a remarkable state of preservation” and hails from the “high point” of Canaletto’s career. The painting has only twice before come to auction, in 1751 and 1999.
The result, said Maja Markovic, who headed the sale, “is a testament to the painting’s exceptional quality and enduring appeal. It is the second highest price achieved for an Old Master at Christie’s London, surpassed only by Rubens’s Lot and His Daughters in 2016. This sale reaffirms the market’s confidence in well-priced works of rarity, importance, and excellence that continue to captivate and inspire.”
Canaletto’s previous record was held by his Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi to the Rialto, which sold at Sotheby’s London in 2005 for £18.6 million ($24.6 million). (Artnet News)
Canaletto Masterpiece Shatters the Painter’s Auction Record
